A U.S. judge has ordered a former luxury real estate mogul to pay $286 million to the creditors of a Montana club for the ultrarich that he is accused of fleecing for personal gain before driving it into bankruptcy, the Associated Press reported yesterday. The order on Wednesday from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph Kirscher is the latest turn in a yearslong hunt for assets of Timothy Blixseth, the founder of the Yellowstone Club, a private ski and golf resort near Big Sky with an elite group of members including Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. Blixseth diverted hundreds of millions of dollars from a 2005 Credit Suisse loan to the club, using the money to buy jets, yachts and luxury properties around the globe. His ex-wife received the club as part of their divorce settlement in 2008 and it went bankrupt within months after its huge liabilities were uncovered. The club later emerged from bankruptcy under new ownership. Blixseth is now representing himself in the case and said in a court filing last week that blame for the club's bankruptcy should be shared by Credit Suisse, which he claimed unfairly enticed him into accepting a reckless loan. Judge Kirscher agreed with that claim in 2010, when he issued a reduced, $41 million judgment against Blixseth. But the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that ruling in July, saying Credit Suisse's wrongdoing paled against Blixseth's and he should have to relinquish his "ill-gotten gains."
